And The Rest Will Be Rewritten
by BkWurm1
Summary: Season 4, CHLARK! Starts with a series of vignettes when Clark DID feel that way,  though he'd deny it , then Clark and Chloe's 1st date is interrupted by a plea for help from Alicia Baker  a Chlarky rewrite of Unsafe - sorry, no RedK sexytime
1. Run & Jynx

**Written originally for the 2012 Secret Chlark Gift exchange on LJ for Apeygirl**

**Request: **Humor, Jealous Clark, Season 4

**Title: And The Rest Will Be Rewritten**.

**Pairing: **Chlark!

**Rating: **PG, PG-13 if you squint

**Spoilers: **Season 4**. **Dialogue from several episodes through Unsafe and a touch of Arrival. No, I don't own any of these characters, though I know I treat them better.

**Warnings: ** None…ok, a touch of happy ending-itus

**Summary: **This story is broken into two main sections. **Section 1** is made up of a series of vignettes. Three times when Clark does think about Chloe that way, though he would deny it, and one time when a small change changes everything. **Section 2 **takes some of the events in Unsafe and rewrites the episode as a Chlarky replacement. (Sorry, no RedK sexy time, but on the upside, no time wasted on Lana deciding if she should give Jason her flower.) Clark and Chloe's evening is interrupted by a plea for help from Alicia Baker that ultimately brings them closer together…cause that is how I roll!

**Section 1**

**~Run~**

Lex pontificated on the history of his newly acquired 14-century manuscript page while Clark translated the Kryptonian symbols repeated on the edges over and over. - _Look deeper- _So Clark did and using his x-ray vision, saw a map hidden beneath the colorful medieval script. Lex was saying something about not having the time to study it now, but it occurred to Clark if he could just switch into superfast mode, he would have plenty of time to memorize the map before Lex ushered him out of his study. Only, the moment Clark thought super speed, he thought Bart Allen or more specifically he started worrying about how much trouble Bart might have gotten into since he left him back at the Talon, alone.

Ok, maybe not so much alone, but that was part of the problem.

Bart started throwing cheesy pickup lines right and left the instant he spotted Chloe. That stunt with the tulip had been sickening. Clark told the speedy trickster to knock it off, but then his mom distracted him and the next thing Clark knew, Bart was ensconced with Chloe at a private table, leaning across and trying to ply her with more of his "magic." Maybe he should have just told Chloe outright that Bart was the same kid who pickpocketed his dad, but explaining why they were suddenly hanging out would have gotten complicated.

His mom told him Lex wanted him to stop by, and since watching Bart attempt to worm his way into Chloe's affections gave Clark the pressing urge for fresh air, he ran to the Manor like his mom suggested.

Not that he cared if Bart wanted to ask Chloe out. He could try, but just last week Chloe stood on the football field and confessed she still had feelings for him. They were unlikely to change so quickly. Not that he cared it they did, because like he told her, he didn't feel that way about her. At least, not right now.

He still wasn't sure why those last few words popped out of his mouth. Sure, when Chloe had climbed on his lap wearing only his football jersey he'd been interested, but he was still hung up on Lana even if he wasn't sure his feelings were anything more than habit. Even so, he'd been honest with Chloe about not being ready to move on… yet.

He was doing it again.

Why did he keep putting a qualifier on his feelings for Chloe? Err, on the feelings he didn't have for Chloe. On Monday he checked out a book from the library on the psychology of the subconscious mind, but it only went on and on about hidden perceptions and secret longings so that was completely unhelpful.

Clark blinked a few times and refocused on the present. Lex was looking at him expectantly. What did he just say? Oh right, to drop by tomorrow and they could study the manuscript page together. Since he just squandered his opportunity to memorize the hidden map now, tomorrow might be his only option. He agreed to come back later and showed himself out of Lex's study. A gust of wind blew his hair back before he was more than a few feet down the hallway.

"Dude, you know Lex Luthor?"

Bart. He should have known. "What are you doing here?" He didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified.

"Well, Chloe shot me down."

Of course she did, Clark thought smugly. He should have never been worried about Bart in the first place. Not that he had been worried.

Bart shrugged. "But, you know, her loss. Man, this place is awesome! I mean, have you seen all the cool stuff?"

Clark's complacency vanished. "You were just in there?" He pointed back at Lex's study.

"Yeah, I just took a quick spin."

Bart had been in there, with Lex and all his security. Another reason he should never have left Bart alone. His anxiety must have shown because Bart tried to reassure him.

"Don't worry, man, he won't have a clue."

He didn't feel reassured. "You gotta get out of here." Bart vanished a fraction of a second before Lex came out into the hallway.

"Clark." Frowning and looking around, Lex asked, "Who are you talking to?"

How much could Lex have heard? Probably nothing more than voices. Clark glanced about to stall for time, but couldn't come up with an explanation. In the end, he shrugged in confusion. He left the Luthor Manor wondering if he would have been better off had Bart gotten somewhere in his attempt to woo Chloe. He arrived home with one clear thought about the matter.

Nope.

**~Jinx~ **

An inexplicable rage washed through Clark as he stood in the hallway outside the Torch and watched Chloe kissing some guy.

She hadn't spoken to him since Lionel took his body for a spin. He didn't know what that twisted monster said to her, but whatever it was, it had shaken her badly. He should have just flat out told her what happened; after all, Lex knew the truth, but the habit of keeping secrets was so ingrained that he hesitated until it was too late. He'd come by the Torch hoping to finally smooth things over between them and he thought maybe she would know if the school was using a new kryptonite laced fertilizer to make the grass greener or iridescent spray paint to mark the end zone or anything else that might explain what had happened to make him trip during last Saturday's game.

When he saw Chloe wasn't alone, he hesitated outside the Torch's half-opened door wondering if he should come back later, but the request the guy whispered to Chloe froze him in place.

"Kiss me."

And then she kissed him!

The rage, colored with a tinge of hurt, confused him at first, but he decided he just hadn't been prepared to find his estranged best friend getting cozy with another guy. No, not another guy. Well yes, another guy, but not another guy, because that implied that he was Chloe's … He dropped that train of thought and concentrated on figuring out who was kissing Chloe.

He couldn't tell.

Probably because the shaggy haired idiot had his back to the door and was plastered to Chloe's lips. Whoever was in there had his hand in her hair and she was touching his chest. Clark felt ill when he heard Chloe softly groan. He shouldn't be hearing this. A muscle flexed in Clark's jaw when the yahoo started dropping kisses along Chloe's jaw. He couldn't believe she would just stand there and let some jerk kiss her in the middle of the Torch right where he…right where anyone could see her. When the dirt bag started whispering in Chloe's ear, Clark angrily turned away.

What did he care if Chloe wanted to make a fool of herself? He didn't, he firmly told himself as he stalked down the hall and headed for the front exit. He just didn't want her jumping into something when he wasn't around to check out the guy. He wasn't jealous; he wasn't even being overprotective. This was Smallville and her track- record sucked.

There was the guy who had wanted to use her for body heat, the artist friend who killed Principal Kwan, and how about the guy who hadn't just two-timed her with Lana, but also tried to kill her by tossing her off a bridge. Plus, she'd had a real tough year: nearly blown up at the safe house, faking her death for months and then almost really dying when someone sicced on her the knock off of Terminator II's metal morphing foe. He was only trying to look out for her.

He let that thought settle for a moment while he blurred home, but as he headed up to the loft, he finally had to admit, it just didn't fit. He'd been mad. Furious. Hurt.

Maybe because she still wasn't talking to him? Yeah. Because otherwise, he'd already know about this guy. Right. And because he needed her help and she was too busy using the Torch as her personal kissing booth to have time for him. That's all the burning sensation in his gut meant. Yeah. Simple really. He should go right back to the Torch, the heck with who was kissing who; what he needed was important.

He sighed. What he needed to figure out really was important, too important to keep pretending he honestly thought kryptonite was the source of his problems. His symptoms didn't fit: no pain, no weakness, no nausea. Just running one moment and down the next. An idea came to him. Maybe kryptonite hadn't made him trip, but maybe he could use a small amount to weaken himself so he wouldn't be a danger to anyone around him.

His mom found him shortly into his experiment. She furiously nixed the idea and strongly suggested he refocus on why he tripped when he never tripped. He grabbed a plaid button down shirt to cover up the sweat stains he earned while playing with kryptonite and zipped back to school.

Coach told him the sports editor had the tape of the game, so he headed back to the Torch. Hopefully Chloe and her tonsil hockey buddy were done with the excessive personal displays. Not that he was ever going to have that conversation. He'd just pretend it never happened. Yeah. It never happened.

Armed with a speech to get Chloe to help him while magnanimously ignoring what he'd witnessed earlier, he walked into the Torch only to find it empty. He clenched his fists. She was probably out somewhere with _him_.

He took a deep breath and forced a lid on his simmering emotions. So what if Chloe wasn't here. He still had to decipher why he tripped if he wanted to play in next week's championship game. He put the tape in the player, took the remote control in his hand, and got down to studying the final play of the game.

He was rewinding it for the twentieth time when Chloe breezed back into the office. He jumped up.

"It's all right, Clark. You can stay."

It irked him that he needed to be granted the privilege of staying when she was letting some random guy not even connected to the Torch make himself right at home. He couldn't quite keep the peevish note out of his voice when he spoke. "I thought you had some self-imposed restraining order against me. Does this mean you're talking to me again?"

"No, this just means that I'm willing to take a chance on getting your Dr. Jekyll side today."

She probably was in a tolerant mood from all the serotonin flooding her brain.

Chloe glanced at the paused video. "What's up with the self-flogging?"

His mood was only getting worse. Of course, it didn't take Chloe more than a second to recognize the scene of his huge blunder. "I'm watching the sports editor's tape of the game, trying to figure out what happened, but…" He got to his feet and started pacing. He wished he could explain. "It's like I had no control, like my mind was sending one message, but…" He broke off his sentence. He sounded crazy.

"But your body was getting another."

He jerked back around to look at Chloe. "Yeah." Why was it that Chloe always seemed to get what he was trying to say?

"It's Mikhail," she said softly.

Clark frowned. "The foreign exchange kid? Mix- uh…"

"Mxyzptlk." She scoffed. "Say that three times fast. He's our new resident puppet master." Chloe shifted uncomfortably and dropped her gaze to the floor. "This is kind of embarrassing, but he - made me – kiss him."

Was that the guy he'd seen kissing Chloe? Could she not have been into what she was doing? But she hadn't been doing any complaining. "Made you," he repeated, not sure if he dared believe it.

"Yeah. It was just like how you explained your trip. It was like someone else was controlling me."

He wanted to believe her. It would solve both of his dilemmas. "Ok, but why would he want me to throw the game?"

"Clark," she said incredulously, "he is the biggest bookie in the school."

"The power to control the odds." And Chloe. She really hadn't been out kissing someone behind his back. No. Not behind his back, because that would imply she was cheating on him. Of course she hadn't been…they weren't even together. He just was glad she wasn't seeing someone else. Err, that wasn't what he meant. That she hadn't moved on from him. No that didn't sound right either. He really should be paying attention to what Chloe was finding out on her computer search. He pointed at a computer prompt that suggested they look up Kltpzyxm.

"What's that?"

Chloe frowned and tilted her head. "It's Mikhail's name backwards." She clicked on it and a page featuring a medieval village, black cats and bad luck popped up.

The rest of their research didn't pull up anything solid on how to stop Chloe's kissing bandit unless they could order a plague of locusts to show up Saturday. Clark left Chloe to do more research and decided to try another approach. A Luthor Corp scholarship brought Mikhail here. Maybe he could get Lex to send him back.

One way or another, Mxyzptlk had to go. Clark was never going to let him get his lips on Chloe ever again.


	2. Spell & Scare

**Title: And The Rest Will Be Rewritten**.

**Author:** BkWurm1 aka Melissa T

**Pairing: **Chlark!

**Rating: **PG, PG-13 if you squint

**Spoilers: **Season 4**. **Dialogue from several episodes through Unsafe and a touch of Arrival. No, I don't own any of these characters, though I know I treat them better.

**Warnings: ** None…ok, a touch of happy ending-itus

**Summary: **This story is broken into two parts. **Section 1** is a series of vignettes. Three times when Clark does think about Chloe that way, though he would deny it, and one time when a small change changes everything. **Section 2 **takes some of the events in Unsafe and rewrites the episode as a Chlarky replacement. (Sorry, no RedK sexy time, but on the upside, no time wasted on Lana deciding if she should give Jason her flower.) Clark and Chloe's evening is interrupted by a plea for help from Alicia Baker that ultimately brings them closer together…cause that is how I roll!

**Section one, continued-**

**~Spell~**

Monday morning, Clark sat on a stone bench out behind the high school, absorbing the fall rays and finishing the math homework he'd never gotten around to doing over the weekend. Regaining his powers and exorcising the three former French fem fatales that cast their spell and high-jacked Chloe, Lana, and Lois's bodies ate up most of his time, but surprisingly the ongoing clean up from Chloe's eighteenth birthday bash was causing him the most trouble.

He finished bagging the limp streamers, deflated balloons and used plastic party cups pretty quickly after his parents got home, but other items left over from the event kept popping up in the most embarrassing places. Just the scan he'd done of his parent's bedroom to make sure it was clear left him traumatized since the see-through black lace bra and panties he found under the bed had turned out to belong to his mom.

His parent's room might have been spared a walk on the wild side, but he still couldn't explain why anyone would leave boxer shorts in the oven or G-strings in the toilet tank. The barn was worse than the house. The crevices between hay bales had been stuffed with "treasures" and judging from the complete wardrobe he found in his steamer trunk, at least a couple guys must have gone home stark naked.

When he went to scoop out feed for the horses, he found a pair of a different kind of cups already filled with oats and one of the toolboxes looked like someone broke open a gas station vending machine and not the kind that dispensed candy, bouncing balls, or temporary tattoos. His mom suggested he leave for school a little early when his dad tried to move the tractor only to find that the front right wheel wouldn't turn. Clark glimpsed something red and shiny jammed in the axel, but he didn't slow down to get the particular details.

"Great party Clark."

He lifted his head and smiled weakly as another group of cheerleaders winked and waved. He awkwardly thanked them before reburying his head in his trigonometry book. He might be trying to forget the party, but all the rest of the school wanted to do was talk about it. Despite being quarterback for the football team, he wasn't used to this kind of attention. Suddenly he Mr. Popular, everyone's favorite guy.

Right behind the varsity cheerleaders, came the three members of the Audio/Visual Club. When they spotted him studying, two of the guys waved and shouted, "Awesome party!" This time he didn't even have to smile back since their confused friend quickly distracted them.

"What party? What did I miss?"

"Kevin, boy did your dad pick a crappy time to go see your Grandma." The group kept walking and Clark heard Kevin groan before they went inside school. As he finished writing out the formula for the last equation, some of the basketball jocks ran by.

"Whoa, Kent!" They back peddled and each took turns slapping him on the back.

"Man, Sullivan's birthday was wild."

Another guy nodded. "Epic."

"It'll go down in high school legend."

Then someone with a much lighter touch tapped him on his shoulder. Clark shank back as Lola Taylor draped herself over his shoulder, thrusting her overflowing and heavily perfumed bosom into his face.

"Move along boys, Clarkie and I need to talk."

"You're wasting your time Lola, pretty sure the guy is taken," one of the snickering group advised. She glared at them until they moved on and then she turned her attention back to her chosen prey.

She coyly toyed with the collar of his red jacket and pouted. "I'm not trying to get between you and your girl."

Clark swallowed in confusion. "My girl?"

She nodded and leaned closer. "I just have a teeny, tiny question. I'm planning this thing on Friday and I want my party to be as spectacular as your little get together."

He craned his neck back so he could look at her without being smothered. "Ah, um. I'm sure it will be."

Her pout deepened and she began stroking the front of his shirt, making decreasing circles around his chest. "It won't be. Not unless you tell me what you used to spike the punch."

Clark grabbed her hand to stop it from wandering further. "The punch?"

She batted her eyes and whispered, "I won't say a word. What did you use, vodka, gin, tequila, scotch, all of the above?"

Clark dropped her hand, set Lola back and quickly stood up. "No alcohol, I swear."

She crossed her arms and looked up at him in surprise. "It wasn't alcohol?"

He shook his head.

She looked confused for a moment and then a gleam came into her eyes. "Clark Kent, I had no idea you were such a bad boy."

"What? No. It was just punch, nothing else."

"Don't you worry. Your secret is safe with me." She patted him on the cheek. "It was just punch." She winked and sashayed away.

Deciding he'd had enough sunshine and way too much socializing, Clark bent to pack his books into his red backpack. Chloe would be in the Torch by now. He'd be safe there. While he was crouched by the bench, his ears picked up a new set of voices.

"Did you get a look at the birthday girl?"

"Dude, yes! The curves she was hiding?"

Clark stiffened. Were the guys talking about Chloe?

"I'd like to go undercover to get that expose."

He hardened his jaw. They were talking about Chloe.

"Gross, you're drooling on me."

"But man, remember that black corset thing? All laced up the front. Can you blame me?"

Clark definitely remembered the black corset thing Chloe/Madelyn had been wearing. He also remembered the knee high boots and the swingy skirt that flared off her hips. Lois and Lana had been dressed provocatively too, actually more so than Chloe, uh Madelyn, but it was Chloe's silhouette that he couldn't block from his mind. Knowing he wasn't the only one thinking about it didn't help. He was sure he didn't want to hear the rest of the conversation he was eavesdropping on, but the two voices were now coming up right behind him.

"No, just do it in private."

"Oh, I'll find somewhere private just as soon as you forward that picture to my phone. Real private, if you know what I mean."

Clark knew what he meant. Without thinking, he slammed his backpack down on the cement bench in front of him and rose to his feet scowling. Hoping he hadn't cracked the binding on his books, he took a quick look. His x-ray vision revealed they were fine, but the lunch his mom packed was flattened. If he didn't stop overreacting, instant applesauce was going to be the least of his problems.

He forced himself to take a deep breath as he slowly turned to face the pair that had been talking. Clark recognized them both as juniors, though the meatier of the two, Scott Murphy, was doing eleventh grade for the second time. Both were staring oddly at him from the sidewalk. Good. He wanted their attention.

Clark stepped out on the sidewalk. "You shouldn't be saying things like that about Chloe." There. That sounded perfectly normal. He was just defending his friend. Nothing unusual there.

"Kent." Scott eyed him up and down and smirked, "Got some definite anger issues, don't yah?"

His smirk got to Clark. "I think you should apologize."

Scott glanced around at the students that were watching and instead of backing down, he scoffed and crossed his arms. "What's it to you? I can say whatever the hell I want to say."

"Dude," the junior next to him hissed in wide-eyed horror, "that's his girlfriend you were talking about jerking off to."

Clark didn't bother to correct him. He was more concerned about making sure Scott stopped saying and thinking things about Chloe. It…it felt wrong. Clark repeated himself. "I said, apologize."

Scott laughed and began backing toward the stairs leading inside. "I don't think so. Come on," he appealed to the people watching them. "You think Kent would be wound this tight if he'd had Chloe the sexy Sullivan to relax him all weekend long?"

Clark felt a muscle in his jaw twitch and the next thing he knew, he'd grabbed two fistfuls of Scotts sweatshirt and slammed his back against the side of the school wall.

"Oh, sh*t."

Clark's quiet fury finally registered and Scott's eyes darted wildly about, looking anxiously for a teacher or a monitor, but most of them were inside or out front, plus, the second the other students sensed a coming fight, they swarmed all around and hid what was happening from prying eyes.

Clark narrowed his eyes and leaned closer. His voice came out in a low rasp. "You are never going to think about, let alone look at, Chloe Sullivan ever again." He gave him an added shake. "Do you understand me?"

"Sure, sure. My mistake. Sorry. I didn't know."

Aware of the people starring, Clark lowered him to his feet. When Scott's sneakers touched the grass, he tried to take off. Clark grabbed him by the forearm.

"Not so fast." He turned to Scott's friend, the one with the camera phone and frowned. Immediately, the sandy haired junior tossed his hands high up in the air.

"I heard. Stay away from Chloe Sullivan. No looking, no thinking, no nothing."

Inwardly Clark cringed. Chloe would kill him if she knew he was out here terrorizing guys into staying away from her, but he still needed to take care of the other problem. "You have pictures. Where are they?"

"Just…just on my phone." The junior nervously fumbled with his cell and brought the pictures on screen. "Here," he said and handed the flip phone to Clark. Scott, thinking to take advantage of Clark's distraction, tried to shake off his hold. Clark let him get loose for a second, but shot his arm out and grabbed the back of Scott's Smallville High sweatshirt even as he kept scrolling through the images.

He spared Scott a brief glance. "I'm not done with you yet."

Clark heard the harsh growl in his voice, but since he was already struggling against the urge to crush the cell phone in his hand, he didn't spare the time to worry about whether he was overreacting again. He saw image after image of Chloe, but not Chloe, in evocative poses. Half of the pictures zoomed in on the tightly corseted cleavage she'd had on display, while most of the rest showed Chloe – no Madelyn – sinuously rubbing her body against his while they danced in his loft.

Some of his memory from that night had been hazy, but the pictures sharpened it. He had remembered dancing with Chloe, uh Madelyn, but he hadn't remembered until now that most of the dancing qualified as dirty. His pulse started racing and suddenly his eyes burned and itched.

"She looks real hot, doesn't she." Scott said, twisting around to peer lasciviously over his shoulder at the pictures. Obviously repeating a year of school hadn't made him any smarter. Clark tightened his grip on the back of his collar, but otherwise ignored him. He stared at the owner of the phone. "Did you send these to him? Did you?" He roared.

The kid standing next to Scott went ashen. He shook his head rapidly. "No. I didn't send them to anyone, I swear."

Clark started deleting the pictures one by one. "If I find out you lied to me…," he let the threat hang in the air. He didn't care if he was overreacting or not.

Scott snorted. "Sh*t, Tommy wasn't the only one with a camera phone."

"Too bad." He handed the now empty phone back to Tommy and then narrowed his eyes at Scott. "Cause if I hear about even one more photo surfacing, I'm holding you responsible." Clark glanced at crowd huddled around them. "All of you, do you hear me? Put the word out and make those pictures disappear."

Scott bobbed his head. "Just hers?"

"Huh?"

"You just mean your girlfriend's picture, right?" Clark felt a flush of heat rush to his cheeks. He really should correct that bit of misinformation. He let go of Scott and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Chloe, she's not…I mean we're not…"

Scott made a show of straightening his sweatshirt and brushing himself off. He got a weaselly look in his eyes. "Oh, I understand. Trying to keep it on the down low. Got it. It explains a lot." He glanced around at the crowd still avidly watching and smirked. "Gotta say, Kent, freaking out about her in front of the whole school isn't really gonna help." His smile disappeared when Clark scowled and took a step toward him. Scott raised his hands in surrender. "The pictures, I'm on it. Consider it taken care of it."

Clark nodded, scooped his backpack off the bench and started to walk toward the entrance of the school. He paused on the bottom step, turned around and called back to Scott. "Wait. All of them." He spoke to the whole crowd watching as well. "The party got out of hand. There shouldn't be pictures of any of the girls when they were losing their, ah… inhibitions."

Scott rocked tragically back on his heels. "Kent, you are killing me here!"

Clark tightened his jaw. "Just do it!"

The first warning bell went off and put an end to that morning's entertainment. Everyone surged toward the school's entrances and Clark let the crowd carry him down the hall. He was reasonably certain any pictures floating around would disappear. His demands probably erased the instant mega cool status offered him this morning as well. That was fine. He didn't need everyone in the school wanting to hang out with him, the way things were suited him just fine.

To make sure things stayed that way, he took extra care to stick close to Chloe's side, warding away the gossip until some other topic took over the high school rumor mills. Of course, once all anyone was talking about was Lex's allegedly murderous love affair he had a harder time justifying why he still spent every spare minute with Chloe. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

**~Scare~ **

The last two days had been hell. No one from town had been safe from another Luthor Corp experiment gone bad. The gas released into the atmosphere forced even him to live out his worst fear, but Clark reevaluated what his mind had conjured after he woke up and discovered everyone he cared about was hovering near death. With a little help from his heat vision, the new antidote Lex's people created was ready in time to save most everyone, but he wouldn't any time soon get over finding both of his parents passed out and dying on the floor.

Nor was he likely to shake the memory of Chloe racing along the corridor, screaming in terror and desperately calling his name. That had been bad. Seconds after she collapsed in his arms, he got her to the hospital, but just as with Jason, the doctors had remained baffled. There had been no way he was going to let Chloe die, so he did what she would have wanted him to do and got on with the investigation. It led him right back to Luthor Corp. After getting his parents to the hospital, he'd been desperate. He would have willingly turned himself into a lab rat if it had meant saving his friends and family. Fortunately, there had been a better solution.

His parents were home now and everything in Smallville was getting back to normal. A little too normal for Chloe, who a few minutes ago had been completely freaking out about the inevitable cover up. Her emotional overload made more sense when she confessed to finding her mom. He hoped what he'd said about not being destined to follow in your parents footsteps had been of some comfort, but Chloe switched topics before he really could tell. When she asked what his worst nightmare had been, he told her about waking up and finding everyone sick and somehow that led them back to tap dancing around his secret.

"Chloe…"

"You know what? You don't have to tell me." Chloe came around and sat across from him on the edge of the other desk in the Torch. "I know that I gave you my word that I was going to stop all of this prying, but... in these last few months, I really got a taste of what it was like to keep my mom's secret. And I've never felt more alone."

He found himself nodding. He'd felt that kind of isolation his whole life. He hated to think of anyone else going through anything close to the forsaken aloneness he felt. All these months and he never suspected Chloe was hiding something as heavy as finding her mom in a mental institution, let alone worrying about the possible genetic implications. She'd seemed so carefree since Lionel's conviction, but all the time she'd been alone, carrying this burden. "It's weird when people think they're so close to you, but have no idea what you're really going through."

She ducked her head and wiped away a lingering tear. "Yeah." Emotion turned her tone thin and whispery. "I'd hate to live my whole life like this." She looked away for a moment, but when she swung her gaze back on to him, she seemed stronger. "But after 'fessing up, it's amazing how quickly that feeling of loneliness disappears." She tilted her head to the side and studied him ruefully. "I mean, if you can't tell your best friend, who can you tell? Right, Clark?"

Chloe's words hung in the air between them.

He'd told his parents he was more certain than ever that he couldn't tell anybody his secret and he had been sincere, but suddenly his certainty was gone. For so long, telling his secret meant telling Lana. He knew now, that deep down, he didn't believe she could accept him for who he really was. He didn't honestly think Lana would grab a makeshift kryptonite knife and try to kill him, but he knew the truth about his identity would change how she looked at him. Maybe she would try, but she would never be completely comfortable around him, but Chloe…Chloe was different.

Chloe accepted the bizarre and different as casually as most people accepted that rainwater was wet. More importantly, she didn't judge people based on their strange abilities, only on how they used them. At one time, he worried she might tell if she ever found out about him, but he'd come to realize all that kept Chloe from uncovering his most obvious secrets was her own promise not to try. He'd known her too long to doubt what she could discover if she ever tried, but he trusted her not to.

"I lied before." The words were out of his mouth before he could think about what he was saying. Chloe cocked her head curiously and waited. When he tried to swallow, he found his throat had gone bone dry, but he kept going. "About my biggest fear."

"Oh?" Chloe asked encouragingly. He nodded.

"I mean, I am afraid of someday waking up alone to find everyone I care about gone, but not because I might be the only one to come out of a coma or something." Chloe waited patiently for him to finish. He wet his lips and frowned. "I'm afraid someday everyone will go away when they …," He lost his nerve and dropped his head, boring a hole in the grey tile floor of the Torch while he clenched his fists at his side.

"When they find out what you're hiding?" Chloe's voice softly finished for him.

Clark jerked his head back up; panic made him stand up and start stammering. He twisted his neck toward the exit. "I…I should go…I need to…," Chloe lightly touched the top of his hand and he froze, but wouldn't look at her. He was afraid of what he would read on her face.

"Clark, I'm not telling you to tell me your secret, I won't do that, but you have to know," she told him solemnly, "there is nothing that could make me turn my back on you. Nothing."

Her somber, but fervent promise forced Clark to look at Chloe, really look at her. Her sunny, chin length hair was tucked jauntily behind her ears. Her bright red top had slipped to one side, exposing one of her lightly freckled shoulders. A line of mascara smeared beneath one of her watery green eyes, and on her cheeks, the tracks from her earlier tears still glistened. But he didn't really see any of that. The only thing he saw was the naked truth stamped on her face. Something shifted inside of him.

Slowly, a smile of wonder curved his lips. She was right. It was amazing how quickly that feeling of loneliness started to ease. He stepped closer to her and carefully wiped away the last trace of her tears, brushing her soft cheeks with the back of his knuckles. His other hand, the one Chloe had touched to stop him from running away, curled around her delicate fingers. For a moment, they stood silently like that, holding hands while he stared into her bright green eyes. He could hear her heartbeat and the gentle sound of her breathing. A shy smile curled on her soft pink mouth. Drawn by the heat of her body or maybe the open warmth expressed in her eyes, he swayed closer when suddenly a pair of lockers slammed loudly in the hallway, one after the other, jolting him from his thrall.

A faint flush of pink prettily stained Chloe's cheeks and he got a glimpse of her biting her lower lip before she turned away. He released the hand he was still holding and Chloe spun around and headed for the layout table. "I really need to finish tomorrow's…"

"Yeah," he agreed and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. He pulled his backpack off the desk and set it on the floor. "I really should start…," he pulled out his red binder full of notes on his story.

"Your article, right. Of course." Her eyes were unnaturally wide and didn't match the bright smile she briefly flashed before turning her attention back to the lighted layout table.

Clark slowly sat down, wondering what just happened. Chloe kept busy on the other side of the room and Clark let the article he was supposed to be finishing grab his attention, but every few minutes, he found himself glancing over at Chloe. She was the same person she'd always been, the same friend he'd counted on for years, but something…something was different.

After ten minutes of silence, Chloe broke the tension when she relaunched a calmer rant about Luthor Corp getting away with another cover up. They tossed around theories why the town as a whole was so willing to look the other way and thought up a few future leads to chase while they worked on their separate projects. That night, when he was back home and lying in bed, he tried to dissect what had changed between him and Chloe. He didn't come up with answers, but he fell asleep smiling.


	3. Unsafe part 1

**Title: And The Rest Will Be Rewritten**.

**Pairing: **Chlark!

**Rating: **PG, PG-13 if you squint

**Spoilers: **Season 4**. **Dialogue from several episodes through Unsafe and a touch of Arrival. No, I don't own any of these characters, though I know I treat them better.

**Warnings: ** None…ok, a touch of happy ending-itus

**Summary: **This story is broken into two parts. **Section 1** is a series of vignettes. Three times when Clark does think about Chloe that way, though he would deny it, and one time when a small change changes everything. **Section 2 **takes some of the events in Unsafe and rewrites the episode as a Chlarky replacement. (Sorry, no RedK sexy time, but on the upside, no time wasted on Lana deciding if she should give Jason her flower.) Clark and Chloe's evening is interrupted by a plea for help from Alicia Baker that ultimately brings them closer together…cause that is how I roll!

**Section Two**

**~Unsafe ~ (part 1)**

Clark nervously paced behind Chloe while she worked her magic on the computer. On Saturday, he found Alicia Baker waiting for him in his loft. She said she was cured and only came to apologize for the past, but he could tell a part of her still hoped they could start all over. If he hadn't recently started noticing Chloe in a different way, he might have even considered it. Instead, he explained that too much had happened to go back. Alicia seemed to get it, but he needed to know for sure if she was cured as she claimed.

Until she went, as Chloe once put it, all phantom menace on Lana and anyone else who got in her way, he'd really liked her. And how could he help but feel sorry for someone who had been kept locked in a tiny lead lined room for most of her childhood because her parent were afraid of what she could do? Maybe her parents had been right to worry, but he couldn't help wonder if keeping her isolated for so many years might have been the real root cause of her psychotic break. In any case, he couldn't leave an unstable Alicia Baker on the loose. He had too much to protect.

"Damn, I'm good," Chloe called out from behind her computer.

He crossed the room to see what she found. She was scrolling through Bell Reeve's confidential patient files.

"All right, Alicia Baker." Chloe started reading from the screen. "Suffering from a histrionic personality disorder, causing emotional instability, resulting in psychotic episodes." She chuckled and smiled. "Yeah, that's our girl."

Clark leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. Below a picture of Alicia, was a bearded man with shoulder length, brown hair wearing a white lab coat. "Who's that guy?"

Chloe leaned closer to her monitor. "It's Alicia's psychiatrist, Dr. William McBride." She bobbed her head. "Yeah, I've heard of him. He graduated from Harvard in two years with more degrees than a thermometer."

This guy sounded like he'd know what he was doing. Clark left off leaning against the Torch wall and hunched behind Chloe. "What's he say about Alicia?"

Chloe scrolled back up the page. She frowned thoughtfully. "Wow. Well, according to Dr. McBride, Alicia really is cured."

" She was telling the truth." He stood and mindlessly walked around to the front of Chloe's desk. Chloe leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms and arched her eyebrow knowingly. He saw a flash of her tongue as it raked over her upper teeth before she let out her toothy grin. He couldn't help but smile back.

"And that, I take it, is exactly what our young Mr. Kent wanted to hear."

"It is, for her sake."

Chloe blinked in surprise. "But not for yours?"

He bent his head bashfully, a smile still firmly on his lips. "Well, I am glad." He glanced up at Chloe. "Because otherwise I wouldn't dare ask out this girl I've been thinking about." Chloe's smile faltered for a fraction of a second before she had it back in place. He took it as a good sign.

"Oh. Ah… I'm happy to have helped." She glanced down at her computer screen and nervously tucked a section of her swingy hair behind her ears. "I suppose I should get back to…,"

"Do you want to go ice skating tonight?"

Her head shot back up. "What?"

He shuffled his feet. "The rink has open skate tonight. I thought maybe we could go together."

Chloe bit her lower lip. "I didn't know you could skate."

He shrugged sheepishly. "I don't really, but you've mentioned you used to skate in Metropolis all the time when you were a kid. The Smallville Hockey Arena isn't Metropolis Park, but do you…would you want to go with me?"

A smile blossomed on her lips. She nodded rapidly. "I'd like that a lot."

A broad grin spread over his face. It pretty much stayed there through the rest of the day at school, during his chores and at dinner. He ignored the puzzled glances his parents kept exchanging and left at six to pick Chloe up from the Torch. When he pulled his red pick-up in the back parking lot, she was just transferring some files to her VW Beetle. She waved and then made a cranking motion with her hand, so he rolled down his window.

"Did you want me to drive separately?" Chloe asked.

"What? No, I'll drop you back at your car later." She was around his truck and sliding in the passenger seat before he could put the truck in park. He took his foot off the brake and they rolled out of the parking lot. He glanced over at Chloe. "I like your coat."

She smoothed her hands down the front of the red wool and smirked. "You mean the color. I guess some of your fashion choices have rubbed off on me."

"You look good in red."

She ducked her head and looked out the window, but she didn't let the silence stretch out for long. She changed the subject and chatted about a few corrections she made to his report on the repaving of the athletic track while they drove the remaining blocks over to the indoor ice rink.

Clark started to get the feeling he hadn't been very clear about what they were doing when Chloe tried to pay her $4 skate rental fee herself. He covered the moment of awkwardness by handing the attendant a ten-dollar bill instead to cover both sets of ice skates. In silence, they carried their skates over to the benches and traded out their shoes for the new equipment. Both of them were still working on tightening the lacings when Chloe paused.

"You didn't have to pay." She kept her eyes fixed on what she was doing. When Clark answered her, he kept his head down as well.

"Yeah, I did." He glanced out of the corner of his eye to catch her reaction. She stayed frozen, half bent over her skates, for several more seconds and then simply smiled to herself. A warmth unfolded in his chest and he called it a victory. He quickly tied off his laces and then shifted forward on the bench.

"Here, let me help you." He grasped her skate by the heel and lifted it onto his lap. He checked the laces to make sure they were evenly tightened, finished with a bow and reached for her other skate. He repeated the same steps and then slowly set her foot back on the ground. He glanced up to see Chloe watching him with a faint tinge of pink staining her cheeks. "There, you're all set."

"Thanks."

They removed the plastic blade guards from the skates and left them behind on the benches, stood and slowly walked on the black rubber mats leading to the rink.

"Ok, let's hope this is like riding a bike," Chloe muttered and stepped over the wooden threshold onto the sheet of ice. She bent her knees slightly and pushed off the ice with her right foot. Clark watched from the side, still standing on the mat, trying to get his bearings. Balancing his weight on a thin metal blade was strange, but not as hard as he expected. Chloe rapidly went through a few maneuvers on the ice, stroking forward and then reversing direction and circling back to where he waited. What she did looked simple enough.

He stepped on the ice, lifted his skate to push off against the ice like Chloe had done and the next thing he knew, he was on his back starring up at the florescent lights.

"Clark!" Chloe peered anxiously down at him. "Are you ok?"

He carefully sat up. "I'm not sure what just happened." Her worry vanished in a teasing smile.

"Gravity, I think. Mixed with a hint of overconfidence."

"Well that's gone now."

She snickered. "Can you get up?" He tried, but his feet shot out from underneath him again. He shot her a helpless look. "Go slowly Clark. Try it from your hands and knees and put one skate under you at a time." He mustered up all his concentration, followed her instructions and then carefully extended his knees as he lifted himself back into an upright position. He felt a moment of triumph when Chloe applauded him; then panic replaced triumph.

"What do I do now?"

All the rules he'd intuitively known all his life about staying on his feet seemed to have gone right out the window. At least a season of football had giving him plenty of chances to practice falling without leaving a crater.

"Just try and feel out your balance. No quick movements, keep your skates connected to the ice, and just move your toes in and out while you shift your weight." She demonstrated her instructions and glided past, leaving behind on the ice an endless hourglass pattern. He copied her and though his feet weren't exactly doing what she'd been doing, he was moving and slowly they started traveling around the edge of the rink.

"You are doing great."

A ten year old in full hockey regalia whipped past and then cut back in front of him. He tried to stop and felt his feet starting to scissor out of control when Chloe skated closer and placed her arm around his back. "Easy Clark, just concentrate on keeping your balance. Here take my hand."

"I would, but I'm afraid I'll take you down with me."

"Don't worry," she laughed. "I plan to be on top." He swiveled his head around in surprise. Chloe cringed. "That didn't come out right." She dropped her arm from around his back, but he caught her hand in his, gave it a squeeze and smiled.

"No, it's a good plan." Chloe bit her lip in embarrassment, but smiled back at him anyway.

They skated on in companionable silence. Over the speakers, played a tinny Muzak rendition of "Winter Wonderland." After a while, Clark felt confident enough to pay more attention to their surroundings. They skated around the oval of ice, past hockey banners, scuffed wooden base boards, and scratched plexi-glass barriers. He sniffed the air.

"Is it just me or does it smell like frozen sweat in here?"

Chloe giggled. "Maybe before the Zamboni goes for a spin, the hockey team quickly rings out their jock straps?"

"Since I was already rolling around on it, can we say socks instead?"

Chloe pursed her lips and slapped a mock serious look on her face. "Ooh, I wish I could, but as a reporter, I must stick to the truth."

"For once, I wish you'd lie to me. I suppose the ice in Metropolis came with a different kind of ambiance."

"Well, aroma aside, this place has its own perks." She shot him a glance.

"Yeah?" He gave her a lopsided grin.

She blushed and looked away. "I was, of course, talking about the walls and the roof. Sometimes the wind chill made skating impossible. Oh, but any other time, the place was packed."

"The Metropolis rink, they set it up right in the middle of the park, don't they?"

The memory made her brighten. "Yeah, every year they turned all the soccer fields into this one giant rink. All the surrounding trees were wrapped in tiny white lights. At night, you could look up into the sky and see the golden spotlight trained on the globe turning on top of the Daily Planet."

Chloe's smile wobbled around the edges. "When I was very little, my mom took me a few times each year." She blinked rapidly and took a deep breath. "I was twelve when she left for the last time. That year I must have bugged my dad to take me almost every weekend."

"You must have really loved skating."

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know. After mom left for good, I decided I needed to grow up." She rolled her eyes and smiled ruefully. "I was too cool for my own good. Ice skating was my only excuse to hold my dad's hand."

Clark glanced purposely at their entwined fingers and then up at her face. "I guess you've figured me out then."

Chloe stopped skating.

Fortunately, they were moving slowly enough that Clark was able to stop as well. Traffic, in the form of the other skaters, parted around them. Chloe looked from the hand holding hers to the face of her best friend. Her eyes were wide and the corner of her lips faintly curved up. "Clark, what are you saying?"

Part of him couldn't believe what he was saying. Part of him wondered why it had taken him so long to say it. He swallowed. "I don't want ice skating to be the only time I get to hold your hand."

Before she could say a thing, the same kid as from before swooped past and then cut right in front of Clark, this time the back of his skate clipped the front tip of Clark's, turning his foot inward and knocking him off center. Chloe attempted to provide counter balance, but his other foot slipped forward and Clark knew his destiny lay with the ice. He landed backwards on the rink floor, with Chloe, as per her plan, on top of him. Ok, he might have tugged her toward him at the last second, but how she landed with her knees spread wide over his hips, was her own doing. Catcalls and clapping started up right away. Chloe rolled off him quicker than he liked. At least getting to his feet was easier this time.

"Should we try that again?" He held out his hand and waited. Chloe didn't take it immediately, instead, in her eyes he saw a flash of fear mixed with longing. For a second he thought she would turn away or began a speech about why they were better off staying just friends, but then she tentatively placed her palm against his.

"As many times as it takes," she whispered.

He was keenly aware of the heat coming off her skin and the soft pressure as they threaded their fingers together. He looked at the fragile hand trustingly entwined with his and something started to swell up, a comfortable tightness that pushed next to his heart, something he couldn't put name to. It was wonder and gratitude, buoyant pride and happiness all wrapped together with a certainty he'd never experienced before. Only their hands touched, but he felt connected, but that was too small of a word. He raised his eyes and examined Chloe's flushed face; he wondered if she felt it too. As if on cue, Chloe released one of her brighter than the sun smiles. He felt his own answering grin spit his face wide and as one, they began gliding across the ice.

They circled all the way around the rink before Chloe spoke again. "You're really starting to get the hang of it, Clark."

"I guess I have a good teacher."

Chloe shook her head. "I like compliments as much as the next person, but you've always had a knack for picking up new skills. Some people are just born that way."

At one time, he might have tensed up over Chloe's too astute assessment, but instead he encouraged Chloe to show off some more of her moves so he could try imitating her. She showed him how to stop and move backwards which he easily copied and then did some speed skating and a few spins. Now that his body had worked out how to move on the slippery ice, even the more complex moves were simple, but despite of his new understanding of how to stay upright, he decided falling with Chloe was worth repeating and as she was explaining how to do a sit spin he "lost" he balance and toppled them to the ground.

He didn't get much time to savor her softness or the sweet, citrus scent of her shampoo before his pewee hockey nemesis raced their way. Chloe took one look at the gleam in the kid's eyes and buried her face in her hands, but Clark learned the hard what happens when someone comes sliding in to make a hard stop. He got a face full of ice shavings before the squirt's mom apologetically dragged her son off the ice. Chloe brushed at his hair while he swiped his hand over his slushied face.

"I should have warned you. Did you get any in your eyes?"

"No, but I'm happy to report the ice does not taste like jock straps."

Chloe burst into mad giggles. For the rest of their skate time, they made a game of trying to pin point from where the smell emanated. The topic of borrowing someone's dog for use of a more sensitive sniffer came up, but determining canine shoe size for skate rental proved insurmountable. In the end, amid lots of laughter, they awarded the stink prize to the penalty box.

Open skating ended at eight, so they switched back to their street shoes and got some hot chocolate to sip, but then stayed to watch the Zamboni recondition the sheet of ice. One of the things Clark most loved about spending time with Chloe was the way they never ran out of things to talk about and so they spent the rest of the evening talking about everything and nothing while a few semi-professional figure skaters vied for ice space with a hockey team doing slap shot drills. The figure skaters timed their glides past the net _very_ carefully.

When, one by one, the industrial size florescent lights over the rink began blinking off, they took the hint and left. Their easy chatter stopped when Clark insisted on opening the passenger side door for Chloe. The drive back to the High School was quiet, with only the rumble of the engine and the hum of the tires against the frozen road breaking the silence. Clark pulled up next to Chloe's car and turned off the key. They both unbuckled their seat belts, but neither made a move to get out. Now a true silence descended over them.

Clark shifted on his seat and even without jacking up his hearing, the creak of the seat springs seemed amplified as did the rubbing sound Chloe's coat made as she swiveled to face him. He swallowed and she took a deep breath. They both spoke at the same time.

"I'm glad you suggested skating."

"I had a really good time tonight."

They tried again, but still their sentences ran over each other.

"It was a lot of fun."

"We should do it again."

Chloe snickered and Clark grinned back at her. They didn't attempt to say anything for a moment. No moon shone in the overcast sky, but light from the parking lot lights left her face partly shadowed. It fit the moment, making her look mysterious, which was the perfect contradiction. He knew Chloe better than he knew any person on the planet, better than he knew even his parents and yet in the last week he'd been seeing her as if for the first time. He remembered their freshman year and the dance cut short by the tornado. She'd been brand new that night as well. He'd been mesmerized by the glint of her hair, the curve of her neck, the angle of her throat, and the depth in her eyes, but mostly, by the joy of her smile. She made him feel warm and alive. She still did.

As the moment stretched out, the mischievous twinkle in Chloe's eyes and the smirk curving her lips relaxed, first into her gentle, open smile and then sliding into to something more serious. His heart skipped a beat.

She bit her lip and briefly glanced at her car. "I should…"

Clark quickly leaned over, slid his hand behind her head and kissed her. He kissed her because he couldn't stand the thought of letting another perfect moment slip through his fingers. He kissed her because he knew she was still half convinced this wasn't a date. He kissed her because she was soft and warm and Chloe.

Her hands, trapped between them, fisted into his shirt; he pulled back slightly, breaking the kiss. Chloe's eyes fluttered open and then she licked her lips. Heat rushed through his veins. Wrapping his other arm around her waist, he pulled her closer. Holding Chloe, even with the bulk of her red wool coat between them, felt good.

He leaned toward her again, only for Chloe to yelp and jump back. For a microsecond, Clark thought he'd squeezed her too tight, but Chloe wasn't looking at him. He twisted around. Watching them through the driver's window was Alicia Baker.

"Stay here," he ordered, but Chloe was already sliding out the other side of the truck. He glared at her, exasperated but not surprised.

"What?" Chloe innocently protested as she shut her door and came around the front of the truck. "She's still wearing the bracelet."

His eyes tracked back to Alicia and zoomed in on her wrist. It did look identical to the one she had been wearing at his farm. He quickly x-rayed her to make sure she wasn't hiding a weapon or a chunk of kryptonite. She was clean, nothing but lip balm, a wallet, and car keys. "Alicia, what are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"I walked from the park. I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms tightly around her white thermal jacket. "This isn't what it looks like."

"So you're not brushing up your stalker routine?" Chloe asked skeptically.

"I wasn't waiting for Clark; I was waiting for you."

Clark pulled Chloe behind him and glared at Alicia. "I'm not going to let you get anywhere near her."

Tears pooled in Alicia's eyes. "I don't want to hurt her. I wanted her help." She nodded toward the red bug parked behind Chloe. "I saw your car in the parking lot. I don't know who else to turn too." Nervously, she kept glancing over her shoulder.

Chloe stepped out from behind Clark. "Why did you want my help?"

"Because wherever I go, Dr. McBride, my psychiatrist, keeps showing up." She raised her hand and rotated her wrist. "I think he's tracking me through the bracelet, but it's more than that. He's making demands and the way he looks at me…it scares me. My parents won't listen." A clump of snow dropped from the tree, the frozen lump clattering on the pavement. Alicia jumped and pressed her hand against her mouth to stifle her scream. Trembling, she implored both of them. "Please, he could be show up any moment. I don't know where else to go."

Clark narrowed his eyes and frowned at Chloe. She nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Ok, we'll hear you out."

Rather than do it standing in the cold, Chloe suggested they go inside. She pulled out her keys and they entered the school from the side door closest to the Torch. The school was empty except for a pair of janitor's. They nodded at Chloe as she approached them.

"Hey Chloe."

"Sam. Marv. Hey, how did Mary's recital go?"

"My granddaughter was the most graceful one-eyed snowman in this year's Third Grade Winter Extravaganza." He pulled out a memory card from the shirt pocket below his embroidered name and handed it to her. "Can you put the pictures up on my Facebook page?"

"Always my pleasure, Marv," she assured him as they continued down to the Torch offices.

"Is that how you got a key to the school?" Alicia asked curiously while Chloe unlocked the door.

"From Sam and Marv? Nah. Not that they aren't great when it comes to leads on strange stuff tossed in the trash." Chloe flipped on the lights and hung up her coat in the corner. "Back in freshman year after the football coach tried to flambé me - on campus - I made a deal with the Superintendent; he gives me an all access pass to my little corner of the school and nobody mentions lawsuits." Chloe settled in front of her computer and Clark chose to sit right next to her on the edge of the desk.

He crossed his arms over his chest, looked at Alicia and got down to business. "Tell us exactly is going on."

Alicia told them of how Dr. McBride somehow had known she'd been out to Clark's farm and the ugly accusations he made. She told them of how the doctor wanted her to come alone to his home for "special sessions" and since she refused, how he'd started following her. Just today, he'd shown up at the library, the grocery store, the park, the gas station, and even the bakery on Elm, each time threatening to send her back if she didn't change her mind on accepting his special off the record attention.

"I don't think he has therapy in mind. I tried to tell my parents, but they think I'm imagining it. They'll do anything Dr. McBride tells them to do. I can't go back, not when I just woke up from the nightmare. I can't go back to a cage."

Clark frowned. "If your parents don't believe you, why should we?"

Chloe piped up. "She's telling the truth, at least about Dr. Creepy McBride showing up. I tapped into the municipal security feed at the library. He was there all right. No audio though. Let me try somewhere else. Sam's sister owns the bakery on Elm and yours truly set up the security." She narrowed her eyes and tapped faster at her keyboard. "There we go."

This video came with audio of McBride demanding Alicia increase her sessions or else, plus it clearly showed Alicia's fear of her doctor.

"You can take that to his supervisors and get him to back off."

Chloe frowned. "I don't know Clark. He generically says sessions; he doesn't mention the hinkey stuff."

Alicia nodded. "Too many people around. He said a lot more at the park and the gas station. Bob's Pump and Munch."

"So far Big Brother isn't watching Smallville's park system, but Bob's definitely has cameras trained on all their gas pumps. It's a closed system though. I won't be able to get a copy until they reopen tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I'm going to try applying a lip reading program on the library footage."

They decided it would be best if Alicia went home before her parents completely freaked and since her car was at the park and the gates locked at ten, Chloe suggested Clark drop her off before he went home. He suggested they all drive together, but Chloe waved the idea away, already immersing herself in her new program. He still hesitated, not certain if her reasons for sending him away were strictly out of practicality. She'd resisted thinking their date was a date. Had he pushed her too fast with the kiss? He thought she'd been as into it as him. In the end, he decided maybe he was overthinking things and reluctantly left with Alicia.

Alicia's family had a hobby farm about twenty minutes away in Grandville, though to Clark, the drive seemed endless. Even the possibility of being followed didn't make the trip more interesting. When they first left the school parking lot, a car down the street turned on their headlights and pulled out behind them, but it was dark and the vehicle stayed too far back for Clark to see who was driving. Just when he was about to ask Alicia if she recognized it, the sedan made a hard right turn and squealed off into the night.

He adjusted the heater and glanced at the clock on the dash. After midnight. Driving his supposedly reformed crazy ex-girlfriend home instead of finishing his good night kiss with Chloe was not how he envisioned the night ending. Alicia was the one to break the uncomfortable silence.

"So you and the ace reporter are dating."

His fingers clenched around the steering wheel and his jaw tightened. Alicia had tried to kill Lana and he hadn't even been dating her at the time.

"Don't worry, Clark," she assured him, knowing where his mind went. "I wish things could be different between us, but, I get it; I messed up my shot."

He threw her a sideways glance. She seemed earnest. He relaxed his hold on the wheel.

"Have you told her? About your secret?"

The tension was back. "I don't have to." He kept his eyes on the road. "It wouldn't change anything between us." He relaxed again, knowing what he said was true.

"If you really believe that, why haven't you told her?" She titled her head, studying him. "Are you worried you'll end up in one of her exclusive articles?"

"I trust Chloe." He said firmly.

"She may disagree once she finds out how much you didn't tell her."

"I told you. My secret wouldn't matter to Chloe." A small smile played with the corner of his mouth. "She'd understand."

"Then Clark, either you're fooling yourself or you're just a fool for not telling her."

He knew he was right about Chloe, but did that make Alicia right too? As always, all his old fears and insecurities tied to telling his secret rose up and swamped his emotions. Rational or not, he was afraid. He clenched his jaw. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok." She shrugged. Clark looked at her and frowned. Alicia wagged a finger at him. "Don't act so surprised. I really am better." She sighed and as they left the city limits of Smallville, gave her attention to the passing silver and gray landscape of the open fields. "I remember doing those things, but it's like I was someone entirely different. I look back and none of choices I made makes sense." Her mouth twisted to one side and she shook her head. "I threw my whole life away."

"Once Chloe proves Dr. McBride is obsessed with you, you can start a new life." Alicia looked less than convinced. The platitude sounded trite even to his ears. He changed the subject. "So, when do you think you'll come back to school?"

Alicia twisted in her seat and gaped at him incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

"Why would I be kidding?"

"Clark, think about it. Has anyone with a meteor power ever been let back in to Smallville High?"

Truthfully, he really hadn't thought about it before. Eric Summers had been back in class after Chloe dubbed him "Superboy" in the Smallville Ledger, but for only a day before his borrowed powers went to his head. After Clark got everything reversed, Eric's family shipped him off to Bell Reeve and he was still there as far as Clark knew. Not everyone who had gone to Belle Reeve was still locked up, but as long as they weren't around, he hadn't worried about what happened to them. "I suppose the school board is trying to protect the other students…"

"From the freaks? You and I both know there are probably dozens of kids, maybe hundreds, in that school like you and me. Only no one is willing to believe someone can have powers and be normal. I wish," grief pulled down the corners of her mouth, "I wish they'd come forward. Then everyone would have to admit that having an ability doesn't automatically mean you're some kind of a fiend."

"Alicia…"

She held up her hands. "Don't worry Clark. I won't tell anyone _your_ secret. I made a promise." She sounded sincere, even if she didn't sound happy. For the rest of the drive, they let the awkward silence stand.

Clark turned into Alicia's driveway, relieved to have that ordeal over, but once he drove past the stables, a pair of car headlights flipped on and pulled up right behind them, blocking their exit route. Clark recognized it as the car from before.

"Oh, god!" Alicia ducked down so she couldn't be seen through the back window of the truck's cab. "That's Dr. McBride's car." Trembling, her hand came up and pressed against her mouth. Panic made her eyes look huge. "He swore if he found out I was talking to you again, he'd immediately lock me back up."

"I'll explain to your parents."

"No." She shook her head franticly. "They won't believe you. Please!" She stretched out her arm. "I have to get out of here. Please Clark!" Grim faced, Clark glanced between Alicia's terrified pleadings and the shadowed figure that was already getting out of the car behind them. He reached out and pried off her bracelet.

"Then go. Meet me at my barn later." She vanished in a neon green haze.

McBride had been furious that Alicia got away and even forced her parents to call the police. The doctor accused him of being obsessed with Alicia and suggested he might have kidnapping her. Sheriff McAdams didn't cotton to locking someone up without any proof, but warned Clark to avoid Alicia. She walked him back to his truck. "According to her doctor, she's still a troubled young woman."

"I don't think you can trust what he says. According to Alicia, he's the one who is obsessed with her. He's been following her around and pressuring her for some kind of a relationship."

"Do _you_ have any proof?" At Clark's silence, she sighed. "Then, son, I'd think real carefully about who gave you your information."


	4. Unsafe part 2

**Title: And The Rest Will Be Rewritten**.

**Author:** BkWurm1 aka Melissa T

**Pairing: **Chlark!

**Rating: **PG, PG-13 if you squint

**Spoilers: **Season 4**. **Dialogue from several episodes through Unsafe and a touch of Arrival. No, I don't own any of these characters, though I know I treat them better.

**Warnings: ** None…ok, a touch of happy ending-itus

**Summary: **This story is broken into two parts. **Section 1** is a series of vignettes. Three times when Clark does think about Chloe that way, though he would deny it, and one time when a small change changes everything. **Section 2 **takes some of the events in Unsafe and rewrites the episode as a Chlarky replacement. (Sorry, no RedK sexy time, but on the upside, no time wasted on Lana deciding if she should give Jason her flower.) Clark and Chloe's evening is interrupted by a plea for help from Alicia Baker that ultimately brings them closer together…cause that is how I roll!

**Section two - (Unsafe - part 2)**

Clark went back home to wait, but Alicia didn't show up. He was still waiting in the barn the following morning when he again checked with Chloe. "Her mom hasn't heard anything either. How are the videos coming?"

"Everything so far is circumstantial, he said, she said stuff, but I went by Bob's Pump and Munch this morning and traded a puff piece in the Torch for a copy of yesterday's security videos. If I'm reading the body language right, I think we might have something. The audio stinks, but I'm enhancing it as we speak." Clark heard the familiar clack of Chloe's keyboard while she went on about what she'd learned.

"The more I dig into McBride, the more I think Alicia is telling the truth. The files were supposed to be sealed, but if it's connected to a server, I can find it. Seems two years ago, he took a real special interest in another pretty blond patient, Anna Sinclair. Two months after her release, she disappeared. A guy who claimed he was her boyfriend said Dr. McBride would take her on dates and call them sessions. Her friends and family didn't know the guy, but he claimed Anna had to keep him a secret so McBride wouldn't freak out."

"Like he did when he found out Alicia and I were talking."

"I'll keep working on finessing the audio so we can nail this scumbag. Hopefully our girl hasn't skipped town for good."

"Okay, call me if you hear anything. Bye." He disconnected the line and then remembering he wanted to ask Chloe to check if Alicia had any relatives she might run to. He hit the redial button, but before he could raise the phone back up to his ear, he heard the shuffle of dress shoes on the dirt packed barn floor. He spun around.

"Drop the phone." McBride waved a gun at him.

"Dr. McBride. Why do you have a gun."

"I said drop it!"

Clark dropped the phone on top of a bale of hay and carefully put his hands up in the air. The doctor took a step closer. He looked like he hadn't slept. His clothes were wrinkled and his long hair tangled and greasy. Last night he'd been furious. Now something more resolute burned in his eyes.

"I warned Alicia to stay away from you."

Clark narrowed his eyes. "Where is she?"

A strange smile played on McBride's face before he answered. "She called me from her cell phone – hysterical. Crying that maybe she wasn't better... that maybe she belonged back at Belle Reeve."

Clark shook his head. "You're lying. That's just where you threatened to send her if she didn't agree to your private sessions. But she doesn't want anything to do with your twisted plans."

McBride took another step toward him. "Alicia is my greatest achievement. When she came to me, her mind was fractured and broken. I made her whole again." He sneered at him. "Now look what you've done to her."

"What I've done? You're the reason she wanted to run away."

McBride's eyes grew wild. "No, you stalked her, you kidnapped her. You forced her to use her powers again."

"That's not what happened."

A sly look flashed over his face. "Well, that is what the police will believe when I take you in. This time they'll listen to me. They tend to do that when teenagers start playing with guns."

"You're the one with the gun."

"No one will believe it's mine. You see Clark, to help Alicia I had to understand her obsession, so I studied you."

Clark stiffened, concerned for the first time since McBride showed up. The doctor went on. "It wasn't hard. The sheriff's files are filled with your unexplained appearances at violent crime scenes. It's the classic earmarks of a troubled teen." The sly smile returned. "But don't worry, they don't send kids like you to jail. They send them to me...at Belle Reeve."

A chill went down Clark's spine. No. That wouldn't happen. Chloe would come up with proof about McBride's obsession. Suddenly Alicia materialized behind McBride.

"Stop it. Clark didn't do anything."

"What are you doing here?" McBride half turned to face her.

"Alicia, get out of here."

"Don't tell her what to do!" He snarled at Clark, before turning back to Alicia. "I'm not gonna let him keep hurting you."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Alicia spat out. Her disdain infuriated McBride. He swung fully around and coldly, steadied his aim at Clark.

"This stops now."

Clark's world moved in slow motion as he watched the bullet discharge from the gun's muzzle with a flare of fire unseen by the naked eye. McBride stood too close. Believably diving out of the way wasn't possible, plus Clark didn't dare take his eyes off the man with the gun. He was still grappling with the knowledge that McBride, who already wanted to lock him up and mess with his brain, was about to discover his secret, when a misty green haze appeared in front of him. In his shock, the world around him slipped back into full speed. Alicia materialized in front of the bullet and fell to the ground in pain.

When McBride reached for her, Alicia cringed from his touch and Clark knocked him back hard, sending him flying through the wall into another section of the barn where he landed out cold.

"We should really get to a hospital, don't you think?" Blood soaked the front of Alicia's sweater.

He crouched down next to her. "Alicia, why'd you do that? You know I could've caught that bullet."

Her voice, though getting weaker, remained clear. "Because I promised you that I'd always protect your secret." Her eyes fluttered shut. "I promised."

In the background, Clark became aware of the sounds of sirens and the crunch of gravel beneath the tires of emergency vehicles pulling into his driveway.

"I'm going to get you help." He ran out to meet the squads in his drive. An ambulance was just pulling in too. He quickly explained what happened and a team of medics rushed to work on Alicia. Before the Sheriff could pepper him with too many questions, he asked one of his own. "How did you know I needed help?"

The sheriff tilted her head and stretched out her weather worn smile. "That blond reporter friend of yours. Somehow, she got a hold of my private cell number. Called up and insisted I get some people over to your place pronto."

"Chloe called you? How did she…," he trailed off. Abruptly, he remembered his phone. He'd hit redial just when McBride showed up. A deputy approached Sheriff McAdams with a question, so Clark quickly dashed back to the barn. He found his phone lying open on the bale of hay. From the tally of minutes accumulated on screen, he knew the line was still connected. "Chloe, are you there?"

"Clark?" Chloe's relieved voice rushed on. "What's going on? How bad is Alicia? Are you ok? Did the sheriff get there?"

"I'm fine. The police are here. The paramedics are working on Alicia." He answered on autopilot, most of his mind consumed with rewinding through what he'd said to Alicia. _"__You know I could've caught that bullet."_

Had Chloe heard?

"Clark?" She prompted on the other side of the phone when he trailed off into silence.

"I have to go."

"I'll meet you at the hospital."

"No." He needed time to think. "I mean, it's going to be crazy down there. Call you later?"

Chloe waited an extra beat before replying. "Sure. That's fine." He said goodbye and hung up. He stared at the phone. Even if she heard everything, she'd back off if he told her to. He just had to decide what he was going to say. Before he could think of anything, the sheriff came looking for him.

He spent the rest of the day handing out explanations to the police and his parents and doing paperwork. Alicia was going to recover completely and Dr. McBride was behind bars. Besides holding him for the shooting, the sheriff's department "anonymously" received a set of recordings that backed up Alicia's story about McBride following her and trying to force an inappropriate relationship. Other staff members at Belle Reeve stepped forward to not only express their own earlier concerns about their colleague's behavior, but also to independently support Alicia's recovered diagnoses, which meant once she was released from the hospital, she would be free to restart her life.

Her parents, faced with nearly losing their daughter again, rallied to her side and something broken in her family appeared to be healing. They were already talking about family in California and making a fresh start. Clark wished them well and said his goodbyes to Alicia in advance. Alicia wistfully spoke of what might have been, but in the end, she thanked him for his help and asked that he thank Chloe as well.

"Despite my past, she listened. I think I understand what you see in her. I just hope you don't take what you've found for granted."

He finally called Chloe that night after he left the hospital. He knew what he needed to do. When her cell went to voicemail, he left a message, asking her to stop by the barn so they could talk. The sound of her VW's tires rolling over the frozen gravel in his drive alerted him when she arrived. He turned on a few lights so she wouldn't find him sitting in the dark, but he didn't go out to meet her. He was still nervously sitting on the couch, waiting to discover what she knew, when she rounded the last platform, stopping before she reached the loft.

She looked around, taking extra time to study the corners and shadows in the room before she gave him her full attention. She seemed subdued or maybe tense was a better word for it, but either way, she wasn't wearing her normal smile. "I hear Alicia is recovering."

"Yeah, for some reason the bullet didn't go very deep."

Chloe nodded and absently ran her hand along the edge of the railing. "I also hear she's not in danger of going back to Belle Reeve anytime, which coincidentally is convenient since they'll be in need of her old berth for a new patient." She glanced up at him.

Clark froze. No. She couldn't be implying that he…

"Do you remember Tim Wescott, the kid who wanted to write an op-ed piece for the Torch on how the town has changed since the meteor shower?"

He nodded, numb with relief.

"Well it seems his fondness for Smallville's glory days included a small minded mindset about what is morally acceptable. Lucky for a few friends of ours, he was putting some garbage in the incinerator at the Historical Society when the boiler broke, and even though the burns he received weren't life threatening, for some reason Tim's mind broke too. One of the candy stripers at the hospital told me he raved on and on about his ruined plan and that 'they' needed to be punished. Got real specific about who and how permanently too. He knocked out an orderly before they got him subdued."

"Who was he targeting?"

"Alicia for her past and among others, Lana and Jason for their former student-teacher relationship."

Clark frowned. "He's secure now?"

"Yep, sedated, tied down, and two guards watching him as they roll towards Belle Reeve's gates."

"Good. That's good."

The awkward silence descended again, both of them looking anywhere but at each other. Clark gathered his nerve and was about to speak when Chloe beat him to it.

"Words are supposed to be my bailiwick, so I guess I'll go first." Their eyes locked and Clark nodded. Chloe took a deep breath and then blew it out. A weak smile played on her lips. "It crossed my mind more than a few times how much easier this conversation would be if I pretended I hadn't heard anything."

Well that answered one question. He rose from the couch. "Chloe, I…"

She ignored him and pressed ahead. "After all, I've been disregarding scraps of memories that filled in the pieces to the Clark Kent puzzle for years," she finished not unkindly. The heel of her boots made a dull thudding sound as she climbed the last step. Her hands squeezed the strap of her purse in a death gripe while she paused and swallowed. Clark reminded himself to breath as he waited, frozen, for her to go on.

"I've told you before and I'll say it again, you don't have to tell me your secret, but I don't want to lie to you Clark and I couldn't help but come to certain conclusions." He didn't say anything, waiting for Chloe to be more specific. He realized he was sending her the wrong message with his silence when a sorrowful frown twisted Chloe's expression. "But now I see that makes you too uncomfortable. I get why you would want to push me away. As much as I don't want to, I get it. A lot of people would use your secrets against you."

Clark shook his head and took a step forward. "But you wouldn't. I know that."

Chloe's shoulder's sagged in relief and the pained, worried expression vanished from her face. "So then can we just move forward like nothing happened?" She suggested eagerly, a small, hopeful smile appearing on her lips. She cocked her head to the side and bit her lower lip. "Maybe revisit where we were before Alicia interrupted?"

Clark slowly shook his head. "I don't think I can do that."

She flinched and her always expressive face fell hard. But not for long. A smile, faker than the blond hair on Chloe's head, appeared even as she blinked rapidly to fight the sheen forming in her eyes. "Okay. Well, hopefully someday we can be friends again, but whatever happens, I promise nothing of what I heard or I suspect will ever be repeated." He only understood what was happening when she swung around to leave.

"Chloe, wait!" He lunged forward and caught her by the hand. He was struck all over again by the fragility of her fingers, but also by the importance of their connection. He couldn't let her go; he felt stronger with her hand entwined with his. "That's not what I meant. I was talking about ignoring what you heard. I don't want to do that."

She sighed and glanced back over her shoulder. "Clark, you really don't…"

He squeezed her hand. "But I want to." He smiled ruefully. "If you can't tell your best friend, who can you tell? Right Chloe?"

This time, the smile that lit up Chloe's face was completely genuine. As always, her joy fed his and a warm feeling settled in his chest. He led her back to the couch where they both sat down. She bit her lip, not nervously, but to contain her anticipation.

"So…," she prompted, "was there something you wanted to say to me?"

He nodded. "Yeah, yes." Suddenly he felt nauseous and sweaty. He swallowed and weakly smiled. Old habits really did die hard. Where to start? "Maybe, if you told me what you heard?"

She cringed a little. "Yeah, about that, I was in the middle of the gas station recordings so I had the whole conversation running in real time through audio clean up."

"So…you did hear everything?"

"About you being able to catch bullets and Alicia knowing your secret? Yeah."

Clark nodded again, still not sure where to start, but Chloe made it easier for him as she went on.

"Since this is confession time, you should know that for a long time I've known in the back of my mind you can get around faster than the laws of physics allow and I've never believed adrenaline explained away the times you casually tossed our resident crazy stalkers across rooms and through walls. Nor have I ever really bought that you're just lucky when it comes to broken padlocks and unlocked doors."

She scooted closer, excitement flashed in her eyes as she really warmed up to her subject. "And that doesn't touch on how you do things like pull up fully buried coffins bare handed, let alone how you knew where in that dark field I was buried. Oh, and more recently there's my miraculous rescue from Mxyzptlk. Yes, more than a thousand people would swear you never left the football field, but the handcuffs didn't just break, Mikhail didn't go flying backwards all by himself and you were the only one who knew I was in trouble. I didn't go looking for answers, but…," she trailed off into a shrug.

"Ok." He nodded, a little stunned by how much she already knew without trying, but also jazzed by her excitement. "Ok," he repeated, stood up, and turned back around to face Chloe, who was waiting even more expectantly. "Yes to super speed and strength." He zipped down the steps, returned with an old rusty tire iron, and bent it like pretzel dough.

She tucked her windblown hair behind her ears and gaped at the twisted metal. "Wow. I thought I knew, but…wow." She glanced up at him in eager wonder.

Her reaction made him want to keep going. "There's more. X-ray vision and enhanced hearing." He narrowed his eyes and stared at her purse until he could see the contents. "You have the exact change in your wallet for a triple mocha latte and just now, my dad told my mom your back tire is low."

She got to her feet. "Clark, don't have to prove anything to me. Wait…did you say x-ray vision? Like you can see through," she nervously clutched at her collar, "stuff?"

"Yeah, but I don't…you know," he hastened to reassure her. "I mean except the first time it happened and when I was on redK, so, yeah, I know about your birth mark on your..., but normally I swear I wouldn't…"

"Wait, what's redK?"

He quickly explained his problem with the meteor rocks, both red and green. Chloe made the connection to his lost summer all by herself.

"I'm still trying to make up for the problems I caused. I'm so sorry for how I treated you."

"It was a bad time for both of us, but Clark, you've taken it upon yourself to be Smallville's self-appointed hero and if you ask me, I think that is amazing. I'm just glad I finally have the chance to tell you." She briefly covered his hand with hers before she spun around and started pacing, her reporter's mind bent not on exposing, but understanding everything. He loved seeing her like this, her mind working overtime, the possibilities dancing in hers eyes.

Chloe tapped her chin and frowned. "There are still a few blind spots though, like your extra special interest in the Kawatche caves and how and why some of the same symbols from the caves were burned into your barn." She glanced over her shoulder, "Random vandals, I don't think so."

"I made those symbols…I can…" He made a gesture with his hands of something exploding from his eyes.

"Shoot laser beams from your eyes?"

"Pretty much."

"Wow. Just…wow. And the Kawatche caves? Also, wait, why do the same meteors that gave you your powers make you sick?"

"Chloe, there's a lot of things about me that even I don't understand, but the meteor rocks," he paused and took a deep breath, "they didn't make me the way I am."

She stopped pacing and tilted her head to the side. "So, you're saying you were born this way?"

He could have left his explanation at that, more than he told Alicia, but less than the truth, except he wanted Chloe to know everything about him, just like he wanted to know everything about her. He told himself that he trusted her; it was time he proved it.

"I wasn't born anywhere near Smallville. In fact, I wasn't born anywhere near this galaxy." A ball of tension dropped into his gut; he waited for her reaction.

Chloe stood a little straighter. Her eyebrows scrunched together and she pursed her lips. "Okay...okay...so that would make you an..."

He shrugged. "Yeah."

Perplexed, she blinked and waved her hand at him. "But you...you look so..."

"Human?" He supplied the word she was searching for and took a tentative step in her direction, wary of startling her. "I'm still the same person," he told her wistfully. Her forehead smoothed and her confusion vanished, replaced with the same welcoming smile she always saved for him. The roiling anxiety in his stomach disappeared.

"For so many years you've been my hero," she closed the space between them, "but Clark, you save people's lives and take zero credit for it. To me, you're more than just a hero. You're a super hero."

"Chloe—"

"I'm serious." With their eyes locked, she reached up and lightly touched the side of his face, her affection and acceptance stamped on every feature. "Clark. If more humans were like you, the world would be a better place."

He slid his arms around her waist like it was the most natural thing to do and pulled her against his chest; he closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head. She wound her arms around his back, hugging him in return. He savored the way she felt, the way she smelled, and the contentment he had having her pressed against his heart.

"You know I'm totally going to rag on you about football, I mean, it's not like I haven't already mentioned you were meant for more than tossing pigskins and playing hog pile."

He pulled back a little so he could see her face. He smiled. She was in full-blown Chloe mode, her eyebrows scrunched together and her eyes fixed off in space while she worked the problem through.

She thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip. "Though a full ride at Met U would be hard to turn down - not so sure I could. As it is, I'm just now figuring out what forms I'm going to need to fill out for financial aid. Still it seems kind of like a waste of your talents." She briefly surfaced to glance up at him. "You're a good writer, Clark."

He felt a moment of surprise and then a rush of affection as he realized she still saw him, not just his powers. She slipped back into problem solving mode. "Though I guess journalism wouldn't really fulfill all your potential. Sheriff McAdams drops regular hints about recruiting you for law enforcement, except, no, even best case scenario, there would be way too much paperwork."

She was adorable. Maybe he should have felt pressured, but this was what Chloe always did, believed in possibilities he had never considered. Over the years, he'd come to her and asked her to take leaps of faith so many times that he'd forgotten to see her support for the incredible gift that it was. This beautiful, brilliant girl was amazing. How had it ever taking him this long to figure it out?

"Maybe a private eye or a freelance thing would work better, though even that might be…"

He bent his head and cut off her ramble with a kiss that expressed his gladness in the moment. Her soft lips parted and he deepened his claim, nibbling and teasing her mouth. His heart raced. Her sweet tongue tantalized him like nothing else and he boldly chased after it, not feeling any of the awkwardness or insecurities that usually plagued him in situations like this. Stroking her back, he held her in the circle of his arms, not wanting to stop, but pulling back to give her a chance to breathe. He was feeling a little lightheaded himself.

"Sorry Clark, I planned to nag you about your options, not beat you over the head with them," Chloe apologized, not looking sorry at all; her bright green eyes sparkled, her cheeks were flushed, and her tempting lips looked red and luscious. He gave into temptation and captured another quick kiss.

"Graduation is still months away. I haven't figured everything out yet, but I discovered one, very important thing." He touched her face tenderly, mirroring the way she'd gently stroked his cheek. "The future is a lot less frightening knowing I have you."

Chloe slid her hands up his chest, looped her arms around his neck and tilted her head back; her eyes flashed with a teasing glint. "Oh, so you have me?"

"Yeah, I think I do," he answered confidently, happiness pushing away all his insecurities. "But it goes both ways." He wouldn't have thought it possible, but her smile got even brighter.

"Yeah?" She traced her pink tongue along the edge of her top set of teeth, smiling and wagging her eyebrows.

He swallowed hard. Seeing her tongue did things to him. He nodded slowly. "Definitely."

"I could get used to that."

"Get used to this." He crushed her close and took her mouth again, a mouth that he prized no matter what it was doing. She met his kiss just as fiercely, belying her previous teasing tone. Her unrestrained response satisfied a hunger in his soul. On every level, Chloe was what he craved: her mind, her friendship, her love - a love he didn't need declared to feel. Whatever destiny Jor-El, or society, or even his parents had planned for him didn't matter; he had Chloe and with her, came the strength to believe that together they would create their own destiny. Everything else would be rewritten.

_The End_

_Author's note: What a lovely simpler time Season 4 really was! I think Chlark could have easily come together then so I was glad to get this story prompt and have the chance to make it so. Plus, I saved Alicia Baker's life and let her stay true to her promise not to reveal Clark's secret. The Smallville writers were so changeable. One week she was taking bullets to protect his secret, the next she was setting him up for universal exposure. So random! _


End file.
